The Language formerly known as Loglan used this convention; pronouns were marked (by vowel choice) to indicate their respective referents in the order those referents appeared in the sentence.

Here, not so much of the "formerly", thanks very much! It's still alive and kicking. See: http://www.loglan.org/ to see just how kicking.

I first dealt with artificial constructs within natural languages when I was doing my post-grad dissertation and I was trying to determine syntactic referents programmatically. I came across a reference to Loglan in the university library, and although it really wasn't much help with what I was doing, I found it absolutely fascinating.

I was first introduced to Loglan (The name is not a legal word in the language, as I remember it) time back way back before the bad time. I had occasion to revisit it recently and found that there had come a splinter group which called their version Lojban (which is a legal word in *that language) which I always want to call Logjam. http://www.lojban.org/ This website seems to suggest that it is *not a splinter group.

Why would a table be a "she" and a desk a "he", you say? A table is a fixture we associate with graces and pleasures, especially a dining room table. A "desk", on the other hand, is a fixture we associate with work. (For instance, a desktop computer belongs on a desk not a table.) The French understand such things, I think. Hence, it is not the pieces themselves, but the emotions which men have attached to those pieces which explains the choice of gender. If women had had any say in the matter, a table, in particular, a dining room table, would have been a "him" not a "her". I continue you enjoy my dining room table as a "her" but I have learned to remove my dirty dishes at the end of the meal.

Why would a table be a "she" and a desk a "he", you say? A table is a fixture we associate with graces and pleasures, especially a dining room table. A "desk", on the other hand, is a fixture we associate with work. (For instance, a desktop computer belongs on a desk not a table.) The French understand such things, I think. Hence, it is not the pieces themselves, but the emotions which men have attached to those pieces which explains the choice of gender. If women had had any say in the matter, a table, in particular, a dining room table, would have been a "him" not a "her". I continue to enjoy my dining room table as a "her" but I have learned to remove my dirty dishes at the end of the meal.

Why would a table be a "she" and a desk be a "he", you say? A table is a fixture we associate with graces and pleasures, especially a dining room table. A "desk", on the other hand, is a fixture we associate with work. (For instance, a desktop computer belongs on a desk not a table.) The French understand such things, I think. Hence, it is not the pieces themselves, but the emotions which men have historically attached to those pieces which elucidate the choice of gender. If women had had any say in the matter, a table, in particular, a dining room table, would have been a "him" not a "her", don't you think. I continue to enjoy my dining room table as a "her" but I have learned to remove my dirty dishes at the end of the meal.

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